Water-conserving system for gas-engine radiators



Jan. 26 1926.

F. CLASING WATER conssnvme SYSTEM FOR ms ENGINE mmm'rons Filed April 28,1924 INVENTOR I Fred CLascn ATTOR N EY Patented Jan. 26, 1926.

UNITED STATES FRED CLASING, or saoaalvmn'ro, CALIFORNIA.

WATER-GONSERVING SYSTEM FOR GAS-ENGINE RADIATORS.

Application filed. April 28, 1924. Serial No. 709,709.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FRED CLAsINo, a citizenof the United States, residing at Sacramento, county of Sacramento,State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Water-Conserving Systems for Gas-Engine Radiators; and I do declarethe following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the charactersof reference marked thereon, which form a part of this applica tion.

This invention relates to improvements in attachments for automobileengines, my principal object being to conserve the cooling water used inthe radiators of such vehicles, providing that the water which overflowsfrom the radiator when said water becomes overheated and which is nowwasted, Will be passed to a reservoir, from which it will beautomatically returned to the radiator when the level of the watertherein drops below a certain point.

Thus the danger of running out of water, sometimes when it is impossibleto replenish the supply, is avoided.

In cold climates alcohol, kerosene and other inflammable liquids arecommonly mixed with the cooling water to prevent the same from freezing,and another object of my invention is to provide means for causing anyinflammable vapors generated from the cooling liquid with theoverheating of the same, to be drawn into the engine. This not onlyprovides additional fuel for the engine but prevents danger of firewhich might occur if these inflammable vapors were allowed to pass intothe air.

A third object is to provide a simple means for causing all the abovenamed operations to take place by reason of the suction induced with theoperation of the en- 1118. b These objects I accomplish by means of suchstructure and relative arrangement of parts as will fully appear by aperusal of the following specification and claims.

In the drawings similar characters of ref erence indicate correspondingparts in the several views:

Fig. 1 is a side assembly of my system showlng the same as installed inconnection with a radiator and gas engine.

r Fig. 2 is a detached sectional view of a vacuum tank, and adjacentparts;

Fig. 3 is a face view of a plate and certam members mounted thereon,attached to the radiator.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on the line 4.-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a detached sectional view of a vacuum indicating and controlmember.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on thedrawings, the numeral 1 denotes a gas engine having an intake manifold 2and the usual radiator reservoir 3 mounted in connection with the engme.

My system comprises a vacuum tank 4 from the upper end of which a pipe 5leads to a connection with the intake manifold 2. A control valve 6 isinterposed in this pipe, said valve being operated by means of a rod 7extending through the dash of the car.

In the bottom of the vacuum tank 4 is a flap valve 8, opening downwardlyinto a chamber 9 therebelow and having an outlet 10 at its lower end. Aflap valve 11, opening outwardly, normally closes said opening.Connected to the outlet 10 beyond the valve 11 is a pipe 12 which leadsto a fitting 12 connected to the top of a tank 13 of suitable sizemounted in any desired location on the vehicle somewhat lower than thechamber 9. The fitting 12" opens to the atmosphere, the opening having acover member 12', normally held clear of the same by adjustable springmeans 12, the purpose of this structure being explained hereinafter. Apipe 14 leads from the bottom of said tank 13 to a plate 15 mounted onthe back of the reservoir 3, over an opening 16 cut in the latter. A.stop cock 14 is interposed in the pipe 14 adjacent the plate 15. On theinside of the radiator and connected with the adjacent end of the pipe14' is a valve member 17 having an inwardly opening valve 18 mounted inconnection therewith. This valve is held seated as long as the water isabove a certain level by means of a float 19. When the water level dropsthe float descends also and opens the valve 18 allowing the water fromsaid pipe to pass into the radiator.

The overflow pipe 20 of the radiator, which usually is open to theatmosphere at its lower end, now extends to the plate 15 and is thereconnected with a pipe 21 which leads to the bottom of the vacuum tank 4.An automatically operating valve structure, however, is interposed inthe pipe 21 adja-' cent said tank. This valve comprises an outer vsleevemember 22, an inner sleeve 23 mounted thereiina plunger 24 slidable inthe sleeve and normally closing an opening in the end thereof farthestfrom the tank, and a compression spring 25 tending to hold the plungerin the above named position. The sleeve 23 is provided with alongitudinal V-shaped slit 26 extending from its end adjacent the tankto a point short of the other end, for a purpose as will be seen.

On the plate 15 1 preferably mount a water gage27 and a vacuumindicating and control member 28. This member 23 comprises a tube 29connected to the plate 15 by an elbow or similar member 30, which endcommunicates with the interior oI the reservoir 3. In this member 29 ismounted a sleeve 31, having a longitudinal V-shaped slot 32 extendingupwardly from its lower end for a certain distance. Slidable in thesleevei31 to a point above the upper end of the slot '32 is a plunger'33. To the upper end of this plunger is connected 2. wire or link 34,the upper end of which is connected to an arm '35 mounted in connectionwith a segmental gear 36, which meshes with a similar gear 37. On theshaft 38 of the gear 37 is'fixed a finger 39 adapted to point to a dial40 mounted in connection with a casing 41 in which saidgears,'finger andother parts are enclosed. A stop pin 42 limits the movement of thefinger 39 in a certain direction. In connection with the gear 37 is aspring linger 43 also reading on the dial 40 on the opposite side of thepin 42. The tension of this spring linger is adjusted at will by meansof a rod '44 connected thereto on which is threaded a thumb nut 45bearing against the casing 41 on the outside of the same. T his lingeris arranged with the gear in such a manner that as the tension of saidfinger is increased by advancing the nut 45 on the member 44, a similartension is placed on the gear 34'', causing the same to resist beingturned.

The operation of the system is as follows:

'lVith the engine in operation .and the valve ,6 opened, a tendency tovacuum is set up in the tank 4 and also in the lower chamber 9, the tankand chamber "having communication independently ofthe valve '8 by meansofa small airpipe 45. Thisitendency to vacuum will also cause theplunger 24 .to be drawn toward the tank against the pres sure of thespring. The greater the vacuum, he greater will :be :the movement of theplunger, ,with a proportionately greater area of opening between theslit 26 and the outer end of'the plunger, andthrough which openingcommunication is established between the tank 4 and pipe 21. Thisplunger-valve may however be Omitted if desired. A tendcncy to vacuum isthus also set up in the radiator 3, which is substantially airtight.

Therefore if any steam or vapor (caused by the water in the reservoir 3becoming overheated) be present in said reservoir it will pass into theoverflow pipe 20 and will be drawn thence through pipe 21 into the tank4. If this vapor is steam, it will very likely be condensed beforereaching said tank, and --will then flowinto the chamber 9 through thevalve 8. It the vapor is of an inflammable nature, it will not condenseas readily, and will remain in that form in thetank 4, to be drawn intothe manifold 2 through the pipe 5 due to the suction in the latter.

The water will collect in the chamber '9 until the .weight thereofovercomes the at-- mospheric pressure on the-flap 11 tending to hold thesame closed. The water escaping past said valve will then pass bygravity to the tank 13 through the pipe 12, and while during this timeair atmospheric pressure is entering the, chamber 9 past the open valve11, the normal vacuum condition in said chamber will be almost instantlyrestored when said valve 11 closes owing to the communicating air pipe46 between the tank and chamber.

lVhenthe level of the water in the radiator, by passing through thepipe2l as above recited, or throughleakage. has dropped so that thefloat l9 descending therewith has opened the valve 18, a tendency tovacuum is then induced in the pipe '14, which causes water from the tank13 ,to'be drawn through said pipe and into the radiator until the waterlevejl therein has risen to a point sulficient to cause the rising floatto again close the valve 18. This operation will of course be repeatedintermittently and indefinitely. The indicator and control member 28 is"for the purpose of enabling the negative pressure or vacuum inthe'radiator to be controlled irrespective of the initial negativepressure in the pipes 5 or 21, and also to indicate the amount of suchpressure.

In operation, a pull on the plunger 33 is had due .to the negativepressure in the radiator, since the member 29 in which the plunger ismounted is connected 'to a pipe 47 which projects into the radiator andterminates above the level of the water therein. The plunger will ,thendescend, causing the indicating finger 39 to move away from the stoppin, ,due to the operative connections between said finger vand theplunger. Af er a certain extent of movement ofthe plunger, air will beadmitted to the pipe 29 below the plunger from above .the latter throughthe slit or bypass 32,;thereby limiting the vacuum pressure invtheradiator and keeping the same substantially constant. since the fartherthe plunger moves down with a heavy pull thereon, the greater will bethe area of the bypass opening, and a larger volume 02f air may enterthe radia- By adjusting the tension of the spring linger 43, theresistance of the gear 37 to turning, and hence the resistance of theplunger to be moved down, is increased or lessened. Consequently, theamount of negative pressure in the radiator necessary to move theplunger down sufficiently to admit air through the bypass, may bevaried.

By reason of the normally open atmospheric valve 12, air is normally inthe tank 13, as is necessary toallow of the inflow and outflow of the.water. If the water is all drained from the tank however, so that thecontinued operation of the engine tends to cause air to be drawn throughthe pipe 14, which would disturb the fuel mixture in the engine, thecover or valve 12 will automatically close, thereby preventing any airfrom entering the tank and being drawn through pipe 14.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that I haveproduced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of theinvention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferredconstruction of the device, still in practice such deviations from suchdetail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit ofthe invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and useful anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A system for conserving the water in the radiators of gas-enginescomprising a tank, passage means leading from the radiator above thenormal water level therein to said tank, a return pipe from the tank tothe radiator at a point in the latter below the normal water leveltherein, means for inducing a suction in said passage means away fromthe radiator whereby a negative pressure will be maintained in thelatter, and valve means for said return pipe normally closed andarranged to open only then the water in the radiator drops below acertain level.

2. A. system for conserving the water in the radiators of gas enginescomprising a water tank, a pipe leading from the tank to the radiator ata point in the latter below the normal water level therein, floatcontrolled valve means for said pipe arranged to open when the water inthe radiator drops below a certain level, means whereby water from thetank will then enter the radiator through said pipe, and means wherebyany water in the radiator tending to overflow or which has been turnedinto steam will be passed into said tank.

3. A system for conserving the water in the radiators of gas enginescomprising a vacuum tank, an overflow pipe leading from the radiator tothe tank, passage means between said tank and the intake manifold of theengine whereby to cause a tendency to vacuum to be maintained in saidtank, pipe and radiator, a water tank, passage means between the vacuumand water tanks, and means whereby any water collecting in the vacuumtank from the overflow pipe will pass to the water tank without beinginfluenced by the negative pressure in the vacuum tank.

4. A structure as in claim 3. in which additional means is provided forcausing water from the tank to be automatically passed back to theradiator at any time when the water in the latter drops below a certainlevel.

5. A system for supplying water to the radiators of gas enginescomprising a vacuum tank, an overflow pipe leading from the radiator tothe tank, passage means between said tank and theintake manifold of theengine whereby to cause a tendency to vacuum to be maintained in saidtank, pipe and radiator with the operation of the engine, a water tank,a water chamber provided with the vacuum tank at the bottom thereof,passage means between the chamber and water tank, and a valve betweensaid chamber and passage means opening away from the chamber butnormally closed by at mospheric pressure thereagainst.

6. A system for conserving the water in the radiators of gas enginescomprising a water tank, a pipe leading from the tank to the radiator ata point in the latter below the normal water level therein, floatcontrolled valve means for said pipe arranged to open when the water inthe radiator drops below a certain level, whereby with the suctioninduced by the engine a negative pres sure will be maintained in theradiator, and means for controlling the extent of such negative pressureirrespective of the suctional force of the engine.

7. A system for supplying water to a radiator including a water tanknormally open to the atmosphere, a pipe leading to the radiator from thetank, means operated by the suction induced with the operation of theengine for causing water from the tank to be passed to the radiator whenthe water level therein lowers to a predetermined point, and meanswhereby when the water in the tank is exhausted the latter will beautomatically closed to atmospheric pressure.

In testimony whereof I atfix my signature.

FRED CLASING.

